Guts and Glory Press Kit

Guts and Glory

Welcome to the Guts and Glory games, where ordinary people compete in extraordinary challenges of life and death for a chance at fame and fortune!

The objective is simple: Race to the finish box while everything tries to kill you.

Dodge spinning saw blades, explosive landmines, cannon balls, and other dastardly hazards, while navigating insane tracks set in a wide variety of environments.

A game full of LOLs and WTFs and OMGs, where failing can be just as much fun as winning.

Do it for the money. Do it for the laughs. Do it for the glory.

Join the Guts and Glory games today!

Fact Sheet

Project: Guts and Glory

Platforms: PC (Windows, Mac, Linux), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch

Developer: HakJak (aka Jed Steen)

Location: Boise, Idaho

Publisher: tinyBuild Games

Location: Bellevue, Washington

Multiplatform Release Date: July 19th, 2018

Price: $14.99 (USD)

Awards: IndieDB Editor’s Choice and Player’s Choice

Socials: @hakjak; @hakjakgames

Contact: hello@hakjak.com

About the Developer

Jed “HakJak” Steen is a solo game developer based out of the Boise, Idaho area.  

He started HakJak Productions part-time in 2015, while finishing up college courses, working a full-time job and raising a family.  When his first project, Guts and Glory, went viral on YouTube, he took a leap of faith to work on the project full-time.  

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, signing with publisher tinyBuild, and many updates later, the game left Early Access on Steam, and launched on consoles during a multi-platform launch event on July 19th, 2018.

When he’s not writing code, creating art, or consuming too much coffee, he can be found spending time with his family of five, spoiling his dogs and cats, enjoying the great Idaho outdoors or, of course, playing video games.

Visit HakJak.com/about to learn more.

Game Description

Guts and Glory is about ordinary people competing in extraordinary challenges of life and death! 

Also known as a “survival racing experience,” “death race” or “death run” game, players will select from a wide variety of vehicles, including realistic bicycles, poorly built cars, and rocket-powered homemade contraptions.  They’ll race to the finish line dodging all sorts of hazards, including sawblade windmills, giant wrecking balls, medieval cannons, and tons of other crazy hazards.

Each vehicle is completely physics-driven, with 100% ragdoll riders, real-time dismemberment, and vehicle damage.  This means that every turn, every crash, and every death is unique—and often results in hilarious scenarios!  Severed limbs spray blood all over nearby characters and the environment as you struggle to hang on and reach the finish line.  Vehicles get dented, smashed and lose parts.  Wheels can be popped or just knocked off completely. 

Determined players on tough tracks will find themselves hobbling across the finish line bloodied, missing limbs, stuck full of arrows, on a smashed vehicle only one hit away from being incapacitated!

Guts and Glory is a silly game with over-the-top comedic violence, ridiculous settings, and fun challenges. It’s meant to be a goofy game you play for some laughs, friendly leaderboard competition, and taking a break from whatever “main” game you’re currently playing.

On a more subtle level, it’s a social commentary about violence in games, pushing boundaries, and making people laugh at “things you’re not supposed to laugh about.”

It’s the first game from HakJak.

Game Features

• 70+ Official Tracks by HakJak

• 1,000+ Workshop Levels and growing!

• 8 different physics-driven vehicles with dynamic damage and destruction

• 100% ragdoll riders, with real-time dismemberment, blood, gore, bones and guts! (plus option to turn this off... or up!)

• In-Game Level Editor with easy Steam Workshop integration

• 500+ Level Editor Items and variations to build and share your own challenges

• Pedestrian characters to chase down and run over--listen to them scream

• AI Vehicles that can race in traffic patterns or even chase the player!

• Destructible props and environments: smash through windows, fences, etc.

• 40+ Hazards and Special Items: cannons, explosives, wrecking balls, circular saws, poop cannons and more!

• Manual driver ejection--leap for the finish line and shave seconds off your time.

• Pause and free fly camera for capturing the perfect screenshots!

• Lots of settings and control customization options.

• The Halls of Glory: a virtual trophy room for your achievements, dedications to G&G Community members, and some Easter Eggs for you to find

• Steam Integration: Leaderboards, Achievements, Workshop, etc.

• Cameos and audio effects by popular YouTubers

• Tons of bizarre content designed by the Guts and Glory Community

• 30+ original soundtracks, all copyright-friendly for YouTube, Twitch, etc.

Reception

Guts and Glory received widespread excitement across the YouTube gaming community especially. The game has been featured by top YouTube Gaming personalities, including PewDiePie, JackSepticEye, H2ODelirious, CoryxKenshin, Annoying Orange and hundreds of other channels around the world, in multiple languages. 

The game has been shaped largely by input from the YouTube and Steam Communities that formed around it. HakJak featured periodic sessions where players could vote on project direction and content, as well as being very involved in forums and using player ideas and feedback to form the game. This “co-development” of the game led to its current form.

Overall, the game has done quite well and is considered a moderate “indie game success story.” Its reviews have generally remained very positive across most platforms and Guts and Glory has gained a cult following around the world—especially in North America, China, and Australia.

Awards

Guts and Glory was not actively submitted to events, but nevertheless received a couple of cool awards, shown below.

Videos

Most of the trailers shown here were made by HakJak (Jed Steen).

A secondary launch trailer used in some markets and consoles.

Early preview of the in-game Level Editor feature. There are now over 500 items and many new tools and features in the full version, including Steam Workshop support.

Primary trailer for the successful Kickstarter that helped make Guts and Glory real!

The very first teaser trailer, revealed as part of the Steam Greenlight launch.

Often compared to an old browser game called “Happy Wheels”, this was PewDiePie’s reveal of the game after a long hiatus from doing any gaming videos.

Guts and Glory was also played by many other YouTubers around the world, big and small. HakJak took the time to watch 100+ videos and learn from them how to improve his games even further in the future.

Huge THANK YOU to everyone that has played Guts and Glory - HakJak

Images

Logos, cut-outs, HD screenshots, GIFs, and more available in full press kit. All images shown below are actual in-game screenshots, unless otherwise noted.